Buddhist Suttas

by Rhys T. W. Davids, T. W. Rhys-Davids, Paul Tice

I just finished reading the previous review, and it is interesting to see why perhaps (s)he did not understand it. The background in Tibetan Buddhism will really throw one off when studying early Buddhism since once Buddhism left India, it quickly changed, evolved and blended with other religions. Mainly the Bon religion in Tibet, where now four different sects exist (The Dalai Lama's being the most popular in the west--but nowhere near the largest of them). Early Buddhism is actually quite different from what you see today. It can even be said that this is a 180 degree turn from it, a change from what it was even meant to be. Rhys Davids is the founder of the PTS, an organization dedicated to the translation and romanization of ancient Buddhist texts, mainly the Nikayas.

I would keep books like these only for people that wish to learn about the Buddhism taught by Gotama, not by a long line of Lama's in a region that never heard of Buddhism for centuries after it died out.

From Amazon.com

A little complex and tedious

Perhaps it is because of my background in Tibetan Buddhism and sanskrit, that I have a difficult time with some of the Pali text. The footnotes aren't very well developed and I was often left wondering if my lack of comprehension was my fault or the translation's. Overall, it is a good work and very informative on some of the differences between Theravadan and Mahayanan Buddhism at a primary source level, but it really took some time to get through.